Daily Meditations
Read today’s Just for Today or A Spiritual Principle A Day readings.
Just for Today
November 07, 2026 |
Feeling God's will |
| Page 325 |
| "I sincerely believed that a Higher Power could restore my sanity and that I would stop trying to figure out what God's will was, just accept things for what they were, and be grateful." |
| . |
| The longer we stay clean, the less surely we "know" what our Higher Power's will for us is--and the less it matters. Knowledge of our Higher Power's will becomes less a "knowing" thing and more a "feeling" thing. We still practice the Eleventh Step faithfully. But rather than look for "signs" from our Higher Power, we begin to rely more on our intuition, trusting our feelings about what will make us comfortable. After staying clean a few years, what we do seem to know is when we are acting against God's will for us. When we are going against God's will, we get that old uncomfortable feeling in our gut. That queasiness is a warning that, if we continue in this direction, ahead lie many sleepless nights. We need to pay attention to such feelings, for they are often signals that we are acting contrary to our Higher Power's will for us. Our Eleventh Step clearly states the true goal of prayer and meditation: improvement of our conscious contact with the God of our understanding, bringing us clearer knowledge of our Higher Power's will for us and the power to carry it out. We know God's will most clearly by how it feels, not by "signs" or words--and it feels right. |
| Just for Today: I will pray for the knowledge of my Higher Power's will for me and the power to carry it out. I will pay attention to my feelings, and act when they feel right. |
A Spiritual Principle a Day
November 08, 2026 |
Praying for Tolerance |
| Page 323 |
| "We have found tolerance to be a principle that strengthens not only our own recovery but also our relationships with individuals who are a source of irritation to us." |
| Just for Today, "Tolerance," June 24 |
| So many of us have had the experience of calling our sponsor to complain about that terrible person at work or that loathsome family member or that insufferable fool at the area service committee meeting. If not for them, how peaceful and pleasant our lives would be! Our patient and loving sponsor gently asks, "Have you prayed for them?" So cliched! Of course, sponsors tend to speak from experience--they know that when we pray for the people who bother us, we are often the ones who change. Sure, sometimes people around us do become more tolerable; people grow and change all the time--even insufferable fools. But when we pray for the people who bother us, we increase our own tolerance and compassion. While everyone in the world has room for growth, tolerance is a much surer way for us to experience peace and harmony than simply waiting for those around us to get better. Some people will take a long time to change; others may never improve at all. If those around us aren't going to become more tolerable, our best solution may simply be to become more tolerant. This doesn't mean accepting unacceptable behavior; we still set healthy boundaries as appropriate. Our sponsor can help us sort out the tolerable from the unacceptable. We remind ourselves that we don't need to be friends with everyone--we just need to be able to play nice with others when we're at work, at family gatherings, and at service committee meetings. |
| ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— |
| I can't make the people around me grow on my schedule. To get along with difficult people, I will pray for tolerance. |